New he is saying the cospiracy is ordered by the Mafia... the communists weren't enough. Is he mental or else?

Italy has the second least GDP grow from 2000 to 2010, worse than us just Haiti. The article forgot we remained without the Minstry of development for many months... useless in our booming economy. And we are still without the president of Antitrust. Useless for an advanced economy which champion in duopolies such as RAI-Mediaset and crony capitalism as around Mediobanca-Generali

Oddly enough, Berlusconi and this Supposedly Authoritative Magazine (SAM) have a lot in common: if every new scandal saps Berlusconi's authority, every new article SAM writes about Berlusconi saps SAM's authority.

Despite the continuos scandals and legal problems, SAM does not deem it necessary to try to understand why, even now, in the midst of the scandals SAM describes, most polls seem to agree that, were we to vote, Berlusconi would again win. And, even more incredible, most polls seem to agree that the opposition is loosing even more supporters than Berlusconi.

SAM's readers should ask themselves easy questions such as the following:

What authority can SAM claim as never once in sixteen years it has investigated the reasons why so many Italians still think Berlusconi is the least evil?

What authority can SAM claim as never once in sixteen years it has investigated why only about 30% of Italians declare they trust the judiciary?

What authority can SAM claim as never once in sixteen years is has investigated why Berlusconi is under investigation for Mafia, and a lot more, and not one such investigation has ever come to an end?

All this, and a lot more, adds up to one tragic fact: mainstream media has by now lost most of it's credibility because it consistently keeps repeating the same old politically correct crap, reasoning from the same old point of view of the elite chattering classes even though, after Italy, all over Europe and, now also in America, more and more people choose to vote against what the supposedly authoritative mainstream media preach.

I do not contest you article and I do hope ,not to be attacked personally by other contributors to this article.
How long did the last centre left government last ?
What did they achieve ?
Are they now able to offer any kind of alternative after leadership change?

To Carl Byron: the last government at least didn't make Italy the laughingstock for the world;

To Lucano: re the legal trials...PLEASE, who are you kidding? He hides very well behind his "Leggittimo Impedimento". Where there's smoke there's fire! Try stepping out of Italy and realizing yourself what shambles the country is in. I nominate anyone BUT Mr Berlusconi.

Economist has always hit the nail on the head when writing about Berlusconi. It now writes the well written and crafted sentence: "But if he cares about his country, Italy’s prime minister should head towards the exit quickly". Well, has any of his supporting voters ever thought that perhaps the real questionable matter with Italy's PM could be exactly in the first part of that sentence??

why doesn't the Economist take the stand that Mr B's political opponents have no other recourse to deal with their sourgrapes at not being in power, and therefore tie him up with endless trials???
he would be able to govern more effectively if not constantly tied up in court.

And also, its easy to state his personality shortcomings, but the Economist won't risk their reputation by nominating who they think would be a better alternative. News flash, there aren't any better options.

I am italian, I live in Italy and I try to give a point of view of the reason why Berlusconi is still PM.
Although the government is at a critical stage, the opposition is in a situation even worse, divided by infighting.
To oppose a government that does not like, we need alternative programs. These programs are completely absent, and the few proposals are confusing and not shared.
This situation is reflected in polls indicating a drop in rating for the opposition.
If Berlusconi die tomorrow, the opposition would lose the main (and only) argument of political attack. If Berlusconi were to disappear tomorrow, it would pose serious problems of governance and political stability in Italy.
Berlusconi is not Italy's problem, the real problem is the rest of Italian politicians and, unfortunately, not yet in sight who can replace him.
We can give a more objective opinion on the Premier, serenely between different years.
p.s. the tones are very strange that the Economist uses against Berlusconi. It is not known gap in the many articles against the Premier, it seems that they make a personal matter.

I will not comment on the present political situation in Italy. I only live some 3 month a year there to get a clar idea.
I am an Economist reader for at least 25 years. Since Mr. Berlusconi became Italian PM , the Economist has been on the attack front againts him. I do not understand the reason. In many other matters the Economist is very objective, but certainly not with Mr. Berlusconi. After all Mr.B, is a product of Italian society, so please consider this as well. And as many blogist repeat, if we had new elections now he would win another time.

Buffo indeed! Berlusconi with his briefs wrapped around his ankles for all the world (literally!) to see may just be good enough to serve as the butt of the sort of two-bit jokes he seems to enjoy so much.

Today's speech was first rate Truman Show: the best of all possible written texts ("imposed to me"), a revering but cheerful audience, a reassuring blue sky... Complimenti to the producer, the stage director and the script writer!